Sunday, October 04, 2009

BPN 1389 My selection of WSA Best e-Content 09 (14)

Category: e-Inclusion & ParticipationTradenet (Esoko)

PRODUCER’S DESCRIPTIONTradeNet is an innovative technology that links mobile phones to web-based management systems and enables agri-business, agri-associations and other agri-projects to systematically build polls, and automatically scouts participants for critical field information. The scout technology can be programmed to send or receive text messages from participants in the field in order to track activities and inventories or evaluate crop behaviour. The project incorporates an SMS-based and Java-based application that connects mobile handsets with a powerful online toolset, enabling large-scale tracking from the field, and significantly reducing the cost of real-time distribution and recovery of responses from thousands of participants. Today, almost800,000 price records have been entered from 10 countries, making this the largest SMS-based MIS system on the African continent. Over 12,000 registered users are profiled in the system, and almost 500 markets are covered.

JUROR’S EVALUATIONTradeNet uses a combination of offline research, mobile content and communications with easily accessible online content to enable farmers and traders throughout Africa to access critical market information as means of improving market transparency and thereby household security and an opportunity to have returns on agricultural investments. Till today, small scale producers have been excluded from accurate daily price information in national markets. By training theircommunities and making price alert deliveries to mobile phones automated, TradeNet provides access to more markets and negotiate better prices. It improves the transparency of agricultural markets in developing countries and includes communities in information services that previously they did not have access to.

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About Me

Jak Boumans (1945) is principal consultant with Electronic Media Reporting, a private consultancy specialised in content strategy, based in Almere (The Netherlands). In 1970 he started in the publishing industry with companies like VNU and Kluwer, particularly in general encyclopaedias. From 1980 he got involved in electronic publishing, running a videotex studio. In 1984 he launched a daily online newsletter for the computer industry from London. In 1987 he was part of the production team that produced the first Dutch subscription CD-ROM for Kluwer for lawyers.
In 1990 he started the private company Electronic Media Reporting, a consultancy specialised in content. He worked for international organisation ( European Commission, OESO), Dutch ministries, national organisations and companies.
He is secretary-general of the European Academy of Digital Media (EADiM) and board member of the multimedia competition World Summit Award (WSA).
He has written for national and international magazines. He was contributor, editor and editor-in-chief of Telecombrief (1981-2004). He wrote, contributed to and co-edited books. His last book in Dutch was on Pre-internet in de polder (1967-1997).